By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Such optimism is infectious. It is what sold Alison Horne and John Jankowski on siting a $1.3 million craft brew pub and restaurant in downtown Renton.

The couple say they looked at numerous sites outside Washington state before fate literally knocked on their door one day.

Jay Covington, Renton's city manager, was in the neighborhood helping with a get-out-the-vote campaign when he discovered he had locked his keys in his car.

Unable to fish them out, Covington knocked on Horne and Jankowski's door, asking if he could use their phone. The rest, they say, is history. When Covington learned of the couple's interest in building a brew pub, he immediately went to work helping them place it downtown.

"Renton is a little like Tacoma in that we have to try harder," Covington said at a recent community forum.

Jankowski says he and his wife realized they had spent more time touring Seattle neighborhoods like Fremont, Wallingford and Belltown than they had looking at Renton. "We started walking around and looking at Renton's demographics, and, my God, we realized this place has a ton of potential."

Using the shell of a former bank, the 30-something couple built a sleek, sophisticated brew pub that offers craft beers and lunch and dinner appetizers and entrees that include polenta, duck, ribs, salmon, lamb and steak.

The brew pub is located near the proposed new Renton piazza. The public park is a shared goal of City Hall types and downtown businesses interests.

To make it happen, Susan Carlson, the city's energetic economic development director, helped two car dealerships relocate out of downtown to a new auto mall near Rainier Avenue South and Grady Way.

The city then bought 5 acres owned by the car dealers and plans to market the land for the piazza, speciality market and 150 new condos or apartments.

So far, three developers have expressed interest in the project, according to Carlson, though she is reluctant to name names.

The plaza on South Third Street has become a symbol of change, say members of Citizens for Piazza Renton, or CPR, an altogether appropriate acronym.

Loring, whose planned bistro would be across the street, says this: "We need to breathe some life into downtown."

Continued:

• Blue-collar city retains its character and spirit
• The challenges facing an 'older city'
• Dinner train put city on track toward revival
• Billionaire's vision would top off renaissance